Why Does India Have So Many Writing Systems? 

Also fun fact, this video was pretty much entirely inspired by this Sporcle quiz: www.sporcle.com/games/1447/writing_systems

When comparing India to Europe, I think it’s worth mentioning that India’s population is almost twice that of Europe

you pronounce almost 95% names correctly, thanks for that.

I am an Indian from Assam and I speak Assamese ( the eastern most indo european language) And I belong to a Tibeto-Burman tribe ( Sonowal kachari) Very proud of my Heritage and my India

भारतीय भाषाएं Sanskrit - संस्कृत Bengali - বাংলা Gujarati - ગુજરાતી Kannada - ಕನ್ನಡ Hindi - हिंदी Konkani - कोंकणी Malayalam - മലയാളം Marathi - मराठी Nepali - नेपाली Odia - ଓଡିଆ Punjabi - ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Sindhi - سنڌي Tamil - தமிழ் Telugu - తెలుగు Urdu - اردو Assamese - অসমীয়া Santali - ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ Lisan Ud-Dawat - ‎لسان دعوۃ البهرة Meitei- ꯃꯤꯇꯩꯂꯣꯟ Maithili - 𑒧𑒻𑒟𑒱𑒪𑒲 Kashmiri - كٲشُر Dogri - ڈوگَرِی Bodo - बड़ English - English Khasi - খসি Persian - فارسی Marwari - मारवाड़ी Lepcha - ᰛᰩᰵᰛᰧᰵᰶ Phake - (တႝ)ၸႃကေ Ahom - 𑜒𑜑𑜪𑜨 Bhojpuri - 𑂦𑂷𑂔𑂣𑂳𑂩𑂲 Saraiki - سرائیکی Kangri - 𑚊𑚭𑚫𑚌𑚪𑚯 Surjapuri- सुरजापुरी Magahi - 𑂧𑂏𑂯𑂲 Bagri - बागड़ी Surgujia- सरगुजिया Tulu - തുളു Dhundhari (Jaipuri) - ढूंढाड़ी Kumaoni - कुमाऊँनी Nimadi - निमाड़ी Garhwali - गढ़वळि Harauti - हाड़ौती Khortha - खोरठा Malvi - मालवी Konkani - कोंकणी Mewari - मेवाड़ी Chattisgarhi - छत्तीसगढ़ी Sadri - सादरी Bagheli - बघेली Awadhi - अवधी Kannauji - कन्नौजी Bundeli - बुन्देली Haryanvi - हरयाणवी Braj Bhasha - ब्रजभाषा Onge - ॳङे Sentilenese Khamti - (တဲး)ၵမ်းတီႈ Aiton - (တႝ)ဢႝတွꩫ် Kurukh - कुड़ुख़ Ahirani - अहिराणी Khari Boli - खड़ी बोली Sikkimese - འབྲས་ལྗོངས་སྐད་ Limbu - ᤕᤠᤰᤌᤢᤱ ᤐᤠᤴ Ladakhi- ལ་དྭགས་སྐད་

Thank you India, greet from Indonesia 🇮🇩❤️🇮🇳 Because of you guys, we indonesian has abundant writing systems +- 15 writing systems derived from pallava script 1. Batak Script (North Sumatra) ᯚᯮᯒᯖ᯲ ᯅᯖᯄ᯦᯲ 2. Rejang Script (Bengkulu province) ꤼꥈꤽꤳ꥓ ꥆꥈꤾꥈ 3. Ogan script (Bengkulu & South sumatra) 4. Incung script (Jambi Province) 5. Lampung script (Lampung province) 6. Javanese script (Central Java, Yogyakarta, East Java) ꦄꦏ꧀ꦱꦫꦗꦮ 7. Sundanese script (West Java) ᮃᮊ᮪ᮞᮛ ᮞᮥᮔ᮪ᮓ 8. Balinese script (Bali province) ᬳᬓ᭄ᬲᬭᬩᬮᬶ 9. Mbojo script (West Nusa Tenggara) 10. Satera Jontal script (West Nusa Tenggara) 11. Lota Ende script (East Nusa Tenggara) 12. Lontara script (South Sulawesi) ᨕᨔᨑ ᨒᨚ ᨈᨑ 13. Jangang-jangang script (South Sulawesi) 14. Bilang-Bilang script (South Sulawesi) 15. Kawi script (Java island)

I'm from India's North eastern states, Manipur. We hv our own script, culture, language.... India is much more diverse then these explain.

I mean, India has a language for nearly every state, so… And before anyone argues about this, a lot of a languages are distinct from all other languages (e.g Basque)

India is like Europe in Asia. (linguistically and culturally)

0:44 to 0:47 I really love that Nepal part (Nepal flag trying to eat Bhutan flag). Glorious, and meme-worthy material

Brahmi being derived from Aramaic is not a established fact but just a theory as many differences exist between two. More over 600bce brahmi script has been found.

Punjabi has two scripts Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi Gurmukhi is used in indian part of punjab while Shahmukhi is used in Pakistani part of punjab Though both have similar pronunciations their writing style is different

As an Indian, I am super excited about the video. Thanks KhAnubis!

Answering questions I never knew I had. Great job on the video and use of sounds.

Im a sinhalese from sri lanka and our language sinhala(සිංහල) is an indo-aryan language having an indo-dravidian script similar to kannada and telugu

Fun fact: Both Marathi and Maithili which both use the Devanagari script today, used have their own scripts known as the Modi script and Maithili/Tirhuta script, and the modi script was in use as recently as 1917!

On south indian side, He totally brushed over explanation the origins of Kannada and telugu scripts. And obviously, there are a lot more scripts in india than he described. Example, the tigalari script. Which my ancestors used to write sanskrit texts. And before that, a common script for Tulu language. Nowadays, the Tulu people are trying to revive the script, using it in banners hoardings and even temple entrance signs. It's a descendant of Grantha script. So, malayalam is a sister script to it. And look very similar.

Before 19th century marathi too had its own script known as "mo(l)dhi" which was given up to make language more easy to print as it had very curved strokes which made it difficult for block printing.

As a Indian Tamil speaker, this is much interesting to watch! ❤️ Thanks for making this! 🙏 நன்றி!

south east asia is also called greater indosphere due to cultural influence.

0:44 I loved this Nepal part

In the Keezhadi excavations, researchers have found brahmi script alongside markings that look very similar to indus valley scripts. Most likely brahmi is a mix of aramaic and indus valley-like scripts

My mother is from Kerala and my father is from tamil nadu we shifted to Hyderabad, Telangana later to vizag, Andhra I can write and read Telugu,Tamil and Sanskrit without any mistakes

You have written kannada ( ಕನ್ನಡ )as kananada(ಕನನಡ) in the video 😃

FYI, you used wrong Burmese fonts while rendering. It would be မြန်မာဘာသာ and not the other way around.

1:28 china does have simplified and traditional, though this variation came from the revolution. If you look at older Vietnamese Chữ Nôm, Korean Hanja which used to be more prevalent, or even kanji in modern japanese - you see that the script was more prevalent and had variations.

Love from ODISHA PROUD of my language ODIA ( ଓଡ଼ିଆ ) Jay jagannath ❤ 🙏 ♥ ଜୟ ଜଗନ୍ନାଥ 🙏 ❤ 🙏

I personally loved the jokes in this video

You forgot about the kadamba script which was indegineously developed from brahmi and is used for present Kannada and telugu scripts

Great videos lately, good job man

“Brutal honesty filter”= bad idea 🤦‍♀️

Another great video for condensing so much content into one video. It never seemed too overwhelming and you also managed to remain detailed and specific enough!

Okay analysis! Thanks for uploading!

🇮🇳 जनगणमन-अधिनायक जय हे ভারতভাগ্যবিধাতা! ਪੰਜਾਬ سنڌ‎ ગુજરાત मराठा திராவிட ଉତ୍କଳ বঙ্গ विंध्य हिमाचल यमुना गङ्गा ఉచ్ఛలజలధితరంగ তব শুভ নামে জাগে, তব শুভ আশিষ মাগে, গাহে তব জয়গাথা। ಜನಗಣಮಂಗಳದಾಯಕ জয় हे بھارت ഭാഗ്യവിധാതാ! जय हे, जय हे, जय हे, जय जय जय जय हे।।

Most of us Indians grow up trilingual (full proficiency - speaking, reading, writing).. and have the intrinsic ability to understand many more..

Super interesting ! Thanks ;) No video on YT speaks about this subject so simply ^^ Good job !

Man Socrates stuff about writing aged like milk, If it wasn't for writing Socrates probably would be saved the embarrassment, It's kinda like I heard about making an apocalypse prediction "If you are right no one will be there to congratulate you, If you are wrong you will be hearing about it all your life"

I can read and write in Tamil :)

hi! also u should discuss about Indonesia's local dialects. It's interesting!

Love the vids, keep it up!

Very informative! Just subscribed

As a native Marathi speaker, you should someday post a video on our language. We have some really unusual pronunciations and alphabets for our language which descends from Prakrit subfamily of Sanskrit based languages but we share a lot of Dravidian features and that of some Persian words into our lexicons. For example, each consonant here(ट ठ ड ढ) is pronounced distinctly in Marathi, whereas, Hindi speakers might mix up Sh(श) and S(स) as in Desh/ Des or Ganesh/Ganes or Shankar/Sankar so, on Consonant ळ is absent from Hindi diction, but is assumed to have entered into our Marathi diction from Dravidian languages, Malayalam having four sounds to that.(though, it does exist in Sanskrit but rarely used). Consonant ज्ञ in Marathi would be pronounced as "gyn" but in Hindi would be "gya". We also have a distinct "ज" which can be substituted for the Z sounds as well as J sounds, Marathi speakers know the distinction on where to use it. Z alphabet completely absent from Indian languages. I think it made into our diction from Aramaic Alphabets since Brahmi script was based on it and Persians spoke a dialect of Aramaic too. So, Zaheer would be pronounced with a "Z" and not with a "J" which most Indians don't have a distinct consonant for, lately a "ज़" has come into existence. Similarly, with the Consonant "फ" which can be used both for "Fa" (as in far) sounds and "phaa" (as in purple) sounds. Most Marathi speakers can speak the consonant "क्ष" easily, whereas, a lot of non-Marathi speakers would use a "chh/छ" for it(not necessarily) , as in Kshatriya(You'd find many Hindi speakers say Chatriya), Kshetraphal(Chetraphal), so, on. One more fact, is we have close to 42 dialects in Marathi and trust me, each dialect can qualify for a different sub-language(if this even makes sense). Most people from say, Vidarbha region wont understand Marathwada speakers of Marathi and so on .. Most of our words are so Sanskrit in base that literature of Marathi can classify as the closest to Sanskrit of all Indian languages but won't be understood by the usual crowd. irrespective of that, We are Indians and im proud of each and every language that exists in my country's realm. We are all equal and beautiful in our own ways. The motive of this post is not to showcase a superiority over other languages but just to point out a few distinctions. Thanks for your awesome video, LIKE ALWAYS !!!

OK can I just say how fantastic this content is?! Maybe it’s just because I’m a geography/ancient history/language nerd but dayum good job man!

WOW , so helpful and interesting . . . . Thanks !

Good work on leaving the hat behind for this :)

It's still debatable whether it(origin of Brahmi) was indegenous development but according to recent research and discoveries indegenous origins holds more ground. No one denies that there were no interaction as Kharoathi script developed in Northwestern Indian Subcontinent was actually a hybrid of Indic and Aramaic scripts.....but Brahmi developed indegenously.

6:44 You forgot that the Siddham script split into Odia script also.😭

Very informative video.. Great thank... 🇱🇰🇱🇰🇱🇰

I love this channel because the diversity in what you talk about it keeps learning interesting

Me: a lovely soothing KhAnubis video before I go to sleep. 7:38: scares the life out of me 😂

you know what's funny about the assamese script, even though it's romanized with 's' and also in assamese script written with an 's' equivalent it is actually pronunced like the 'x' or velar or uvular fricative.

Great video, I learned a lot of new things

Nice!

The way your font engine is configured, It has butchered the name of my language, Kannada (ಕನ್ನಡ)(although I typed it here, if you don't have indic font engine, your device also potentially butchered it.) In the video, it looks like Ka-na-na-da rather than Ka_nna-da

In NE India there is 2 officially recognised scripts which is Meitei you forgot to mention its used by 2m people

Great content!

hello from Eagle Creek, Oregon !

Brahmi from Phoenician script theory isn't universally accepted theory... Why are you treating it as Fact?

2:06 Correct Me If I'm Wrong, But Isn't It Somewhat Debated Whether Brahmi Is Descended From Phoenician, With Some Suspecting It Evolved On Its Own?

GREAT INFO🎉

dont forget historical European scripts like ᚱᚢᚾᛟ Ⰳⰾⰰⰳⱁⰾⰹⱌⰰ ᚛ᚑᚌᚐᚋ᚜ 𐀀𐀁𐀂𐀃𐀄

In India students need to lern 3 languages along with their scripts(except hindi speaking states) in schools

Punjabi uses 3 writing systems; Gurmukhi (India), Shahmukhi (Pakistan), and Landa. Landa was also used to write Hindustani, Sindhi, Saraiki, Balochi, Kashmiri, Pashto, and various Punjabi dialects like Pahari-Pothwari.

Wow this gave me such an in depth understanding of how my native language of Marathi came to be. Thank you so much for taking an interest in Indian subcontinent and it's languages.

So basically Sanskrit, a many millennia (>5000-8000 years) old language came from a language a few millennia later, interesting.

ମୁଁ ହେଲି ଓଡ଼ିଆ ମୁଁ ଲେଖେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ 😁

8:25 I think this map is kinda Inaccurate

Nice video! There are more scripts in the family (ofc it is not possible to cover them in a 10 min video)

For the Philippines one you forgot 4 more which is Kulitan, Hanunuó'o, Buhid and Tagbanwa. There's about 3 more which is Badlit, Basahan and Kurditan/Kuritan, these 3 are just fonts or derivations(?) of baybayin the difference is that the fonts or derivations (?) is a different language.

Well , India might have a lot of scripts but Devnagari has been forced on languages like Awadhi, Bhojpuri and Maithili(Kaithi, Maithilakshar etc. are native scripts) These languages and their scripts are going extinct really fast and they are being replaced by Hindi and Devnagari

One reason, unlike europe, middle east and America, India appreciates diversity and doesn't commit ethnic cleansing.

Historian do not agree to that brahmi script was derived from Phoenician. There are a competitive view that it was developed independently or even from IVC. There is dark age of 1000 years in indian history between fall of IVC and rise of brahmi . What you mentioned is euro centric view that every thing originated in middle East. Either in Sumer or Phoenicia. We know you belong to Europe but promoting eurocentric view of India is quite limiting and biased . Don't u think.

संस्कृतम् অসমীয়া हिन्दी اُردُو বাংলা ગુજરાતી ಕನ್ನಡ मराठी தமிழ் മലയാളം తెలుగు ਪੰਜਾਬੀ / پن٘جابی ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ ꯃꯤꯇꯩꯂꯣꯟ ଓଡ଼ିଆ मैथिली कोंकणी / ಕೊಂಕಣಿ سنڌي / ‎सिन्धी འབྲས་ལྗོངས་སྐད་ बर' राव كٲشُر / कॉशुर डोगरी / ڈوگَرِی नेपाली Kok Borok Ka Ktien Khasi Mizo ṭawng

Three types of Scripts were used to write the Tamil language, 2000 years ago they use ' Tamili scripts' and 2AD to 14AD they use Vatteluttu script ( because of writing purpose in palm leaf ), now they use modern Tamil (தமிழ்) .

Pallava dynasty mostly used Sanskrit,Tamil and Prakit......Pallava's attention to Southeast Asia like Malaysia,Indonesia,Singapore and Brunei are evident......thats why Tamil and Sanskrit has similars with Malay and Indon languages

correction 1:10 Punjabi actually has two scripts, Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi

Very very thanks from India.

I had thought that Khanubis was bald for some reason.

The joke pauses are incredible, amazing work!

That is not "ಕನ್ ನಡ" it is "KANNADA"(ಕನ್ನಡ). My mother tongue

2:11 nice map men reference

So all language scripts are descendants of the Phoenician. Are you stating this as a possibility or as a fact? Since you also mentioned that the sources conflicted with each other

i love your videos

As someone who can speak only 3 Indian languages but can read 6 Indic scripts, I can attest to the fact that the characters are quite closely related. Some pairs of scripts are closer to each other than latin-greek or latin-cyrillic.

Love from India ❤️

after reading your Instagram post. I always assumed that your hat was just a easy way to separate your role as KhAnubis from he real William. but it could be that it also worked a bit to well in the real work. maybe in the same way some of the most introverted person in normal day can be the most extra verted clown on stage.

There's also the Meitei Mayek script of Manipur and the Kokborok script of Tripura

0:26 That's not how you write Kannada ok it written as "ಕನ್ನಡ"

You forgot Maratha Empire It was the biggest Empire. Mughal were never able to conquer the region of Maharashtra and also the whole South India.

It's worth mentioning that Indus valley script also had a part in India Brahmi script development. The exact relationship of Brahmi and Phoenician isn't well established.

Well I am wondering what script were the people of the Satyuga using, or at least the Dwaprayuga.

Love the T-shirt. From a former Upstater.

Theories are being treated as Facts in this video lol... INDUS valley script isn't even deciphered yet.😂

yayy! another video on india, your followers will go UP now.

Europe has not 4 but a few more scripts if we consider unofficial scripts such as Syutterlin, Okham and Gaelic/Insular. Similarly South Asia and South East Asia have numerous unofficial scripts.

1:30 China does have other writing scripts, like Tibetian (mentioned), Yi, Tai Nuea...

In fact, every state in India has a different language. And each language has its own section. Even sometimes the sectiona are so different that you can’t relate to each other but they belong to the same language and state.

Indian states are literally divided on the basis of language.

വളരെ നല്ല വീഡിയോ ,നന്ദി

Simple shows diverse creativity and diverse cultures open thinking andcsearch for meaning of life